The Rocket Racing League: Announced Today, Races In 2007
http://www.rocketracingleague.com/
From the mind of the creator of the X-Prize competition that Scaled Composites won a year ago tomorrow with the Space Ship One reaching 354,200 feet above earth, comes the latest rocket-fueled craze… the X-Prize Cup and the Rocket Racing League. Dr. Peter Diamandis (the founder of the X-Prize Foundation) and Granger Whitelaw (two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500) came together to create the fastest race ever conceived.
Imagine NASCAR in the air doing high angle, high performance turns on a 3D track using GPS and heads-up-displays to stay on course. The creators are even saying sponsorship of rockets will work similarly to that of NASCAR; the helmets, pressure suits, and rockets will be covered with sponsor logos.
Though this is an interesting idea, it’s not 100% original (though this is the only REAL life attempt at the idea): the Wipeout line of PlayStation and PC games were some of the first to take racing rockets to the main-stream when the franchise of games started back in ’96.
Regardless of originality, I’m still looking forward to checking out this new type of racing. Since some of the most outspoken people who watch NASCAR are rednecks, takes the term “space cowboy” to a whole new level.
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